Assist king may have played last game for Leeds this season after ominous Heck comments

That would be pretty heartbreaking news for Leeds fans after a season that could best be described as disastrous.

Saiz has been one of the highlights this campaign, with five goals and seven assists from his 27 Championship games.

With the play-offs long gone manager Paul Heckingbottom is building for next season, giving youngsters like Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Tom Pearce a chance.

One win in eight games since he took over is a poor return for Heckingbottom, but it’s widely expected that he’s got next season to prove himself and won’t be held accountable in the summer.

He’ll still want wins and Samu Saiz returning is probably his best bet for this but the star attacker is currently out with a slight hamstring tear and there’s been some pretty ominous noises coming from Heckingbottom.

“We’re hoping we can get him out on the grass and get him running and back in training.

“The way he plays we may be able to get him through to the end of the season, fingers crossed, but there’s always a risk with that and the last thing we want to do is put him out for a long period of time.”

From likely returning for the Bolton game, to being out for at least the next two weeks, to this – things aren’t looking good for the return of Saiz anytime soon.

With the season gone it doesn’t sound like Heckingbottom wants to risk bringing Saiz back for effectively meaningless fixtures and saying they “may be able to get him through until the end of the season” sounds like he might not play again this term.

Why risk ruling him out for the long term, either for Leeds or for his future sale?

Because there’s every chance that Saiz makes a move in the summer.

He was signed for £3million from Huesca and would fetch at least double that in the summer – possibly even £10million.

Saiz himself would probably jump at the chance to join a bigger club with Leeds’ promotion chances still looking a way off.

It seems unthinkable but it means that Leeds fan might have seen the last of Saiz at Elland Road.